Family is Everything
by Stelena-Beautiful
Summary: A story about the unconventional Williams-Stevens family. Includes a few crossovers from the now-defunct soap, Guiding Light... Main pairings: Paul/Cassie and Ronan/Heather.


_**I hope you all like this. The main couples in it will be Cassie Winslow (from Guiding Light) and Paul Williams; and Heather Stevens and Ronan Malloy. Read on about my version of the Winslow-Williams-Stevens-Malloy family! Lol**_

**Family is Everything**

**Chapter 1**

_**October 2011**_

Heather Stevens walked into Crimson Lights, her eyes scanning quickly over the heads of everyone present until she spotted a familiar figure sitting at the counter sipping from an over-sized coffee cup and reading the newspaper. An unexpected surge of something like happiness mixed with relief flitted through her and she walked forward and greeted him with a tap on the shoulder. "Guess who?"

Paul Williams quickly spun around on his stool and stared at her. "Heather!" he said in surprise and joy. "You're home." He then reached out and pulled her into a tight embrace that nearly crushed her internal organs. Not too long ago, she wouldn't have let him this close to her but in the last year, he had been her rock through everything and she realized she was beginning to forgive him for past wrongs.

"My ribs," she finally squeaked out and he released her.

"Sorry. I'm just so glad to see you," Paul said with a smile. "When did you get in?"

"About an hour ago," she said with a smile in return. "Anyway, may I join you or is this seat saved for someone special?" She gestured to his denim jacket folded over on the seat with a little carnation resting on top of it - a sure sign he had been expecting someone else.

"You're special enough," Paul teased. "Go ahead and sit." He looked at her fondly. "So how was your trip?"

"It was a lot of hard work," Heather admitted. "Not much of a vacation at all. Though the area was beautiful, I didn't get to enjoy much of the scenery."

"Have I ever told you that you work too hard?"

"A few times," she allowed.

She watched as her dad nonchalantly picked up his jacket and the carnation and slid it onto the countertop. He glanced once around the busy coffeehouse briefly before saying, "What can I get you? It's my treat."

"Never mind that," Heather replied. "You have to tell me who you're so excited to see."

"You. Of course."

"I don't think so," Heather said. "You didn't know when I was coming back and you're wearing your blue shirt. It brings out your eyes and you know it. You called it your lucky shirt one time. So who's the recipient of all this fanfare?" she asked. He raised an eyebrow and she knew he realized he had been caught. "Is it Nina? Are you two back together?"

"No," Paul said. "Nina left town about a month after you did. She went looking for something I guess I couldn't give her."

"I'm sorry," Heather said sincerely. "I know you two tried really hard to make it work."

"We did," Paul said with a nod. For a moment he was silent and his brilliant blue eyes darkened a bit in disappointment.

Heather instinctively squeezed his left shoulder. She knew better than anyone how it was to want so badly to make something work when the other person couldn't be bothered. _Maybe it was a genetic trait_, she mused. Passed on from father to daughter…

She had tried not to think of Ronan the whole time she was gone but being back here now where she was surrounded by memories of much better times - times that had seemed all too brief to her - it was going to be harder than she had thought it would be to simply forget him and what they had shared. It had been more than six months since she'd last heard a word from him and she would be lying to herself if she didn't admit that she was worried about him, worried about what kind of trouble he might have gotten himself into.

Heather shook her head, determined not to go to that dark place. Brightly she said, "I am sorry about Nina but it's obvious another woman is putting some pep in your step these days. What's her name?"

"Her name is Cassie -" he held up a hand before Heather could interrupt - "and we're not dating or anything close to it. She was a client of mine from out of state. I worked on a case for her and when it reached a dead-end; she still decided to stay around here for awhile with her son."

Heather smiled. "Sounds intriguing. And promising."

"Heather -"

"You like her, Paul. Just admit it."

Paul sighed. "You're stubborn - just like your mother." He shook his head. "Alright. I like her but I don't know if she feels the same. She could just see me as a friend or a confidante or -"

Now Heather was holding up a hand. "You said the case was over right?"

"Basically, yes but -"

"But nothing, Paul. A woman doesn't just drop her life somewhere else for someone she doesn't like in return. Think about that." Heather started to climb to her feet and Paul grabbed her hand lightly.

"Where do you think you are going?"

"I'm not going to intrude on your coffee date," Heather said with a smirk. "I don't want to be the fifth wheel."

"You wouldn't be. I know Cassie would love to meet you."

"Well if things work out the way you seem to want them to, we'll both be seeing a lot of her," Heather said and squeezed his arm. She then grabbed her handbag and started off before he could try and stop her. He called her name but she just smiled back at him and then kept going. She wouldn't ruin her father's chance at happiness - not for anything. She may have lost out on her own chance for love but why should Paul have to do the same? She knew deep down he deserved so much better than that.


End file.
